I return today (October 19th) after my third 30-day suspension from Facebook for violating their community standards. The latest offending post was a protest, in entirely temperate language, against Islamophobia & a defense of the Arab Spring uprisings. That accords with FB’s deletion in 2012 of 300 to 400 of my posts analyzing the Arab uprisings. I learned during this suspension that Facebook has also been deleting posts of mine, mostly about Kashmir or Syria, without notifying me. Meanwhile, fascists, Assadists, nationalists, & pro-war groups continue posting in accord with Facebook’s ‘community standards’. Go figure.
During this suspension, I lost about 20 friends & over 80 readers. That of course is the purpose of these suspensions. I am not alone in this regard since many Palestinian, Kashmiri, Rohingya, & other activists are routinely suspended or terminated by Facebook & by Twitter. Social media is the new arena for defending civil liberties.
Glad to be back. Thank you so much to those who expressed birthday greetings. They felt more like expressions of solidarity.